Stocks Slides on Economic Data, LinkedIn and Procter & Gamble Gains

by TheStreet
1:15 mins

U.S. markets are continuing to decline at midday on Friday, extending Thursday's big sell-off. Investors are digesting lots of fresh economic data. The Labor Department said U.S. employers 209,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate increased to 6.2%. Consumer sentiment declined slightly in July. The final University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters index was 81.8. U.S. manufacturing companies expanded at their fastest pace since April 2011, the ISM index hit 57.1 in July. Spending on construction projects fell by 1.8% in June, thatts the biggest setback in more than three years. But U.S. automakers reported strong sales for July. But, the numbers are not helping the stocks of both General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) move higher. Earnings news is moving the stocks of LinkedIn (LKND) and Procter & Gamble (PG) to the upside. TheStreet's Susannah Lee has details from New York.